Recent years have seen Apple really up their game on keeping your information secure, and protecting you from unwanted and unsafe content. As well as CheckIn, NameDrop and Live Voicemail, here are a few of more the features announced at WWDC that you may not have heard about, coming to you in a free update in September.

First, let’s talk about privacy, with major updates to Safari Private Browsing.

Safari was way ahead of the game with private browsing. This year, an important update gives you more security from trackers when you're online and from people who could access your device. Advanced tracking and fingerprinting protections go even further to help prevent websites from using the latest techniques to track or identify a user’s device. Private Browsing now locks when you're not around, so your tabs stay open when you're not using it.

We will also see Photos privacy permission improvements.

There's a new embedded Photos picker that can help users share certain pics with apps while keeping the rest of their library private. Apps asking for the user's whole photo library will show the user more information about what they're giving, plus regular reminders of their decision.

There’s better link tracking protection in Messages, Mail, and Safari Private Browsing.

Certain websites slip tracking details into their URLs so they can keep tabs on users across other sites. This information will be taken off the links people share in Messages and Mail, but the links will still work as they should. This info will also get cut out of links in Safari Private Browsing.

What about better user safety? What’s new?

Communication Safety, which warns kids about nudity in Messages when sending or receiving photos, now covers video content as well. Developers can now get Communication Safety in their apps with this API. Plus, the feature will help keep kids safe when they AirDrop, do a FaceTime video call, use the Phone app to get a Contact Poster, and pick content to send in the Photos app. All image and video processing for Communication Safety happens on device, meaning Apple and any third parties have no access to the content. The child accounts in the Family Sharing plan will have these warnings on, but the parent can turn them off.

We'll also get Sensitive Content Warnings to help adults avoid seeing unwanted nude pics and videos when they get them in Messages, AirDrop, FaceTime video message, and the Phone app when they get a Contact Poster, all using the same privacy tech at the heart of Communication Safety. This feature is optional and can be turned on in the Privacy & Security settings. Doing Communication Safety and all image/video processing for Sensitive Content Warning on-device stops Apple or anyone else from seeing it.

Finally, we will see new safeguarding measures for user data.

Making password and passkey sharing easier and more secure, users can create a group and share a set of passwords. Everyone in the group can add and edit passwords to stay up to date. Sharing is safe with iCloud Keychain's end-to-end encryption. Plus, you can now use one-time verification codes you get in Mail to quickly log in to Safari without leaving the browser.

Lockdown Mode has grown to give even better security to those who may be targeted by a malicious spyware due to their identity or activities. The new protections cover more secure wireless connections, how media is handled and shared, sandboxing, and better network security. Setting Lockdown Mode revs up device defenses and severely restricts certain functionalities, drastically reducing the attack surface for those needing extra safeguards. Lockdown Mode will also be available on watchOS.

I’m Sarb Johal - be sure to subscribe to the A+ report on your favourite audio podcast platform, Youtube and Substack too. Thanks for listening.

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